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Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephantAnonymous-The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuineWinston Churchill, 1944-Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.Mark Twain

So I have a 56 gallon freshwater aquarium (40" x 30 " x 30") with 13 fish in it.

I was wondering if it is possible to use a camera to generate images, and based on the location of each fish in the tank create an algorithm that can map the locations of each fish to each other fish, in order to create a truly random number, at any given point in time.

I can't see any flaws other than the difficulty creating the algorithm itself.

I can't see any flaws other than the difficulty creating the algorithm itself.

I'm convinced that a lot of disasters began by this reasoning

More seriously, that is a fun project. Quite advanced though, since it requires spatial recognition and a lot of mathematic stuff regarding randomness. If you come up with something that would make an awesome article.

"Five fruits and vegetables a day? What a joke!
Personally, after the third watermelon, I'm full."

There are many things that could make this far from random, such as fish preferring one area of the aquarium...fish being evenly dispersed...some fish tending to avoid others...where the bubbler is replenishing the oxygen...where fish can hide...

He's right - there's no reason whatsoever to think the location of the fish is random. At the very least, with respect to their nature: those that want to be near or away from others.

Barbs like to school and "pace" back and forth in a region. Some prefer the bottom. Or sucking algae off the glass. External lighting. And, of course, breeding behavior and followup nesting behavior. Maybe chasing after the hatchings for a quick fresh meal.

In regards to seeding - that's (I suddenly realize) a separate consideration. Seed all you want, but the sequence of values that follows is the primary concern (no?)

I can't see how pixel resolution on non-random behavior will change anything. It might increase the scope of returned values - but will not the found pixels still be clustered where the object are most often found?

Or, looking at this another way: fix locations in the tank and determine if the points are occupied or not. Still will be affected by the living creatures behavior such as feeding tending to more likely interrupt a measured point at the top by the food at certain times.

Any creature that has a behavior (for survival, breeding, etc.) will act in a manner to satisfy that behavior and destroy the randomness.

How do you remove the non-randomness of the (fishes) behavior from the measurements?